Dog Daze

Midday Matinee is our people watching, people doing and people being feature. Join the Woodland Creatures for an afternoon break.

Welcome back to Tuesday’s Tale, a weekly feature where we collaborate to write a story. Previous Tuesday’s Tales include ClichéMixMaster and If Frodo Said “No.” We follow the basic rules of the “Yes, And” improvisational game – accept everything written so far as part of the story, and add your own paragraph (or so) where the last addition left off – except you needn’t begin your addition with “Yes, and.” I’ll start the story….

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Alice chuckled. “Dear, that phrase isn’t about canines in semi-consciousness. It’s dog D-A-Y-S. The hottest days of summer.”

“Coz dogs just lie around?” Bob asked, looking at the sofa.

“Actually no,” Alice said. “They’re called the dog days because those are the days when Sirius, the Dog Star, rises at the same time as the sun.”

Alice shook her head, jingling the little tag that hung from her collar. “I’m just not sure about this.”

winterbanyan
on August 1, 2017 at 3:52 pm

“Come on, babe,” Bob said encouragingly. “You asked me for that pretty rhinestone collar because it tickled you and you always said you wanted to be a pet. So far the transition is going well.”

Alice hesitated. How far did she want this to go? Of course, being a pet would allow her to quit teaching at the obedience school. Bending her head, she nibbled at an itch on her forearm. Maybe she should have asked for a flea collar.

“Well….” Alice began thoughtfully. Then she burst out the door at full speed, yelling over her shoulder: “Squirrel!”

Bob and Cam took off after her, looking for the squirrel. Cam thought she might have spotted it, but just then a Frisbee sailed past. She leaped up and might have caught it, had she reached with her hands. Alas, it was too high to reach with her open mouth so she pivoted and gave chase.

Bob hadn’t spotted the squirrel and knew he couldn’t outrace Cam for the Frisbee. So he sat and watched Alice jump at the base of a tree and paw at the bark, her eyes bright and alert, her tongue hanging out the side of her mouth.

“Wow,” Dave said, looking out the window. “The neighbors are complete fools of themselves. Pretending to be dogs?”

Elaine licked her hand and nodded. “How stupid can you get. Be right back, sweetie. I need to use the litter box.”

Lake Toba
on August 1, 2017 at 4:31 pm

“You know,” said Sally the squirrel. “I don’t understand dogs.”

“Why’s that?” asked her husband, Herman.

“Well, they’re always so happy and playful. But today its gone really crazy over there.”

“Huh,” Herman offered. Where was that acorn?

“Yeah. They’re woofing like they could talk. And walking about on their hind legs and wearing human clothes. Weird.”